Producing Quality Milk

1
Producing Quality Milk

• Gary M. Hay
• Charles F. Hutchison

2
Lowering Summertime Cell Counts

• Its that time of year again. The weathers
  getting hot, milk production is falling and bulk
  tank somatic cell counts (BTSCC) are rising.
  Keeping your summertime cell counts at acceptable
  levels CAN be done with a little extra effort and
  monitoring in 4 key areas of the operation.

3
Nutrition

• As ryegrass grazing ends, Dry Matter Intake (DMI)
  and subsequently milk yield will begin to drop
  severely unless some type of high quality forage
  such as corn silage, ryegrass baleage or alfalfa
  hay is substituted for ryegrass grazing. As milk
  production drops, the number of somatic cells in
  milk remains constant, so, the somatic cell count
  begins to rise dramatically. This is called a
  concentration effect because the cells become
  more concentrated in less milk.

4
Nutrition

• Ready access to an abundant amount of clean,
  fresh drinking water is critical.
• Stagnant ponds or streams or having one water
  trough that cows have to walk several hundred
  yards through the sun to get too wont work.
• Cows need clean, fresh sources of water with
  immediate access in order to maximize their water
  intake and help regulate their body temperature.
• Without it, they will have trouble maintaining
  their normal body core temperature
• This will result in more feed nutrients going
  toward maintenance instead of production, reduced
  DMI, lower milk production and higher cell
  counts..

5
Nutrition

• Make the ration more nutrient dense in regard to
  energy, protein, vitamins and minerals while
  still maintaining enough fiber in the ration for
  proper rumen function and health.
• The level of sodium (Na) in the total ration on a
  DM basis should be 0.40 to 0.45 with the
  potassium (K) level a minimum of 1.5.
• Products such as potassium carbonate, potassium
  bicarbonate and sodium bicarbonate should be used
  to increase the levels of Na and K and are
  recommended instead of increasing the level of
  salt or potassium chloride in the ration
• Sodium bicarbonate, potassium bicarbonate and
  potassium carbonate added to the ration has an
  added advantage of increasing the buffering
  capacity of the diet as well as increasing the
  dietary cation-anion difference (DCAD).
• The Magnesium (Mg) level should be raised to
  0.40 of the total ration DM because of the
  possibly of the higher K level in the diet
  causing problems with Mg absorption.
• Timing of feeding and feeding frequency along
  with good bunk management will help maintain DMI
  levels during the summer.

6
Cow Comfort

• Hot weather makes cows seek shade.
• If the only shade available is from trees, cow
  will congregate under the trees and quickly make
  a wallow of mud, urine and feces.
• As cows continue to lie around in these areas,
  their udders will be constantly exposed to high
  levels of bacteria
• This will lead to more subclinical and clinical
  mastitis infections and higher BTSCC

7
Cow Comfort

• Two ways to reduce this potential environmental
  mastitis disaster
• Provide portable shade structures that can
  frequently be moved to avoid creating wallows
• Build properly designed and functioning cooling
  ponds
• Cooling ponds should have a constant flow of
  water in and out of the pond to reduce bacterial
  levels in the water and the out-flowing water
  must go directly into a waste management lagoon
• Cooling ponds should have a concrete bottom and
  concrete entrance and exit ramps.

8
Cow Comfort

• Two additional suggestions for cow comfort
• Place high velocity fans and sprinklers in a
  covered holding lot. Cows crowded together for
  several hours a day waiting to be milked will not
  disperse body heat and this will raise their body
  temperature and drastically reduce their Dry
  Matter Intake
• Placing fans and sprinklers in a covered feeding
  area will also help cool the cows

9
Cow Comfort

• For herds with free stall housing, the bedding
  area needs to be kept clean and dry to avoid
  exposing udders to large concentrations of
  bacteria.
• The best bedding material to use is still good,
  clean sand.
• Avoid organic materials such as wood chips,
  especially green hardwood chips, since organic
  materials will harbor bacteria.

10
Milking Procedures

• Avoid milking wet udders. Use a minimum of water
  to get teats clean and be sure to dry teats
  thoroughly.
• The best procedure is to clean and dry the teats
  fore-strip one or two streams of milk then apply
  a disinfectant pre-dip to the teat ends for 20-30
  seconds.
• Finish the pre-milking routine by wiping off the
  pre-dip and attaching the milking unit.

11
Milking Procedures

• Avoid over-milking or machine stripping which can
  cause damage to the inside of the teat canal.
• Use a commercial disinfectant teat dip
  recommended by the National Mastitis Council for
  both pre- and post-dipping
• Avoid using products such as Clorox as a teat
  dip. Clorox can dehydrate and irritate teat ends
  causing them to chap and crack and harbor
  mastitis causing bacteria.

12
Warning Label from Laundry Bleach Containers

• DANGER CORROSIVE
• Contains sodium hypochlorite. 6.00 by weight.
  Causes severe but temporary eye injury. May
  irritate skin. Harmful if swallowed. Do not get
  in eyes, on skin, or on clothing. If in contact
  with skin, immediately remove contaminated
  clothing and wash skin thoroughly with water.

13
Milking Procedures

• Monitor your milk hands on a regular basis.
• Dont assume they are doing a good job make sure
  they are doing a good job
• Make sure they understand how important their job
  is to you and the financial security of your
  investments.

14
Monitor Individual Cows

• There is absolutely no way to control your BTSCC
  if you dont know which cows have high cell
  counts.
• You can measure cell counts in individual cows
  using the tried and true cow-side California
  Mastitis Test paddle test.
• The CMT will give you an indication of which cows
  have a high SCC
• The CMT will not give you an exact SCC for each
  cow nor the amount of somatic cells that are
  being contributed to the bulk tank by the
  individual cow

15
Monitor Individual Cows

• A better alternative would be to get on the DHIA
  monthly individual cow electronic cell count
  program.
• The benefits of monthly individual cow cell
  counts in managing your BTSCC far outweigh the
  costs.
• The cost of DHIA is around 1.00 to 1.50 per cow
  per month.
• Maintaining your BTSCC below 300,000-400,000 will
  return you several times this amount through
  higher milk production, less dumped milk, less
  treatment cost and lower culling rates for
  mastitis and low production

16
Monitor Individual Cows

• There are also several additional financial
  benefits in managing your herd using DHIA.
• The DHIA program is a very useful management tool
  designed by dairymen to assist you in doing a
  better job managing YOUR assets and increasing
  YOUR net income.

17
Monitor Individual Cows

• Usually no more than 6-10 cows are causing a
  large majority of BTSCC problems in a herd.
• Individual cows can be treated, culled or dried
  off to get their milk out of the bulk tank until
  their cell counts have been reduced.
• Without getting the milk from high cell count
  cows out of the bulk tank, it is very difficult
  to keep BTSCC under control.

18
Practice a Comprehensive Plan of Mastitis Control

• In addition to the techniques mentioned above,
  there are a few other management practices that
  will keep mastitis and cell counts low in your
  herd.
• Dry treat all your cows at the end of lactation.
• Dry treating your springing heifers 30-60 days
  prior to calving will also lower their cell
  counts, reduce their chances of getting mastitis
  before calving and improve their first lactation
  milk production.
• Get your milking equipment checked routinely (1-2
  times per year) to make sure it is functioning
  correctly.
• If you are running cell counts above 300,000, get
  a bulk tank milk sample cultured to check for
  contagious forms of mastitis.
• Dont be afraid to cull chronic high cell count
  cows.

19
Lowering Summertime Cell Counts

• Controlling your BTSCC during the hot summer and
  early fall months has two very substantial
  benefits for you and for the consumer
• (1) Lowering your BTSCC will usually raise your
  milk production more than enough to offset any
  additional costs associated with achieving lower
  BTSCC
• (2) Consumers will get a better quality product
  that has a longer shelf-life.